Uncle Sam needs you to hire a housekeeper

It's patriotic to hire a housecleaner, says Michelle Slatalla, a Fashion & Style columnist at nytimes.com. Ms. Slatalla humorously shares her struggles to keep her home clean and involve her family in the work in this week's Wife/Mother/Worker/Spy column (yes, I think the column label is clunky too).

From her column: “How am I going to get the rest of them to help me keep the house clean?” I asked Pamela J. Smock, a sociologist at the University of Michigan who studies how housework affects family relationships. “Let me ask you a question,” she said. “Are you still able to afford to hire someone to clean your house?”
“ ‘Afford’ is a state of mind,” I said. “My household hasn’t lost income — yet — but my husband and I are journalists, the most endangered species there is outside of Detroit.”I’m superstitious: Maybe if I appease the God of the Bad Economy with this offering — cutting my discretionary spending — I can ward off a worse fate.
That’s the wrong way to think, Professor Smock said.“Right now, the bad economy is hurting people who clean houses for a living much more than it’s hurting the middle class,” she said. “So anybody who is solidly in the middle class or above should hire the cleaners back. Absolutely. Immediately. You’ll be serving your country.”

Let's just say I'm considering the need to do my patriotic duty and outsource my housework in the name of economic stimulation!

Also, I'm super interested in the work of Professor Smock. What a great academic pursuit!